Bearded Theory Festival - news and discussion

[William of Walworth]

Better presentation of the above here (from Bearded's actual news-piece about it) :

 

[William of Walworth]

This coronavirus could fuck up festival season this year.

OK, I'll bite : I'll bet you a pint of the most expensive and strongest Thornbridge at Bearded that it won't!

 

[Part-timah]

I like the optimism!

 

[Mogden]

There are thousands of public events happening every single day in the UK, including workplaces and schools, at the moment and yet you think a festival 3 months from now will be buggered?

I'm with William's opinion.

 

[Part-timah]

There are thousands of public events happening every single day in the UK, including workplaces and schools, at the moment and yet you think a festival 3 months from now will be buggered?

I'm with William's opinion.

I hope my worst fears are wrong.

 

[Mogden]

I hope my worst fears are wrong.

Anyone immuno-suppressed is frankly unlikely to be at a festival. And if this thing is still lingering in three months then it'll probably kill us all anyway.

Fucking hell festivals are awesome, take your fun-sucking-sponge self somewhere else instead of shouting "We're all going to die!" over this thread.

 

[Part-timah]

Anyone immuno-suppressed is frankly unlikely to be at a festival. And if this thing is still lingering in three months then it'll probably kill us all anyway.

Fucking hell festivals are awesome, take your fun-sucking-sponge self somewhere else instead of shouting "We're all going to die!" over this thread.

Where did i say that?

 

[Mogden]

Where did i say that?

Which bands are you looking forward to at Bearded Theory this year?

 

[Part-timah]

Which bands are you looking forward to at Bearded Theory this year?

Out of that lot, I havent seen DJ SS perform since the early 90s. He’d be at the top of my list tbf.

 

[William of Walworth]

Out of that lot, I havent seen DJ SS perform since the early 90s. He’d be at the top of my list tbf.

That's just the Arcadia Afterburner list immediately above -- there's plenty of other acts and bands on several other stages too

 

[William of Walworth]

On Coronavirus matters, this Wednesday (11th), Bearded organisers issued this statement :

March 11, 2020 7:17 pm

We are aware of the growing concerns about what affect Covid-19 will have on this year’s festival.

Central Governments current advice remains that they have no intention cancelling mass gatherings especially those that are hosted outside. We are equally aware that all advice given is issued on a dynamic basis and has potential to change.

Our own responsibility is to those that have afforded us their trust by purchasing tickets and their expectation that we will look after them to best of our ability. In line with this we have a contingency plan whereby we can postpone the festival if it were needed to a date in September, we have secured the venue, license, suppliers and the vast majority of the current line-up programme. This will be implemented if it was decided that mass gatherings would be cancelled and the advice from Government is that we would know this on or before April 1st, 2020.

We must stress that it is fully expected that the event will continue in May and that it will be safe to do so. We will be implementing enhanced hygiene measures across the site and will be announcing further measures in the lead up to the festival.
In the interim please remember that your ticket purchase with us as always remains a secure purchase.

The latest advice we have been given on this matter can be reviewed here World Health Organisation and here Production Services Association

Thank you for your support – see you in May

 

[Part-timah]

Government will be banning mass gatherings.

 

[William of Walworth]

Government will be banning mass gatherings.

Do some detail, Part-timah , I'd suggest

 

[William of Walworth]

So we now officially have what I'd been suspecting for ages : a rescheduled Bearded event -- now moved to actual dates in mid-September : Thursday September 10th to Sunday September 13th 2020

March 20, 2020 8:53 am

Bearded Theory 2020
Further to our previous statements we are sad to advise that we have postponed the festival until September 10th to 13th 2020. The festival will operate on the same basis i.e. camping, children’s area, stages etc. It is clear the current pandemic will remain in a critical period until the end of June. We have been advised by Central Government and the Safety Advisory Group that it is expected that September should be in a period whereby the country will be back on normal operational terms. We acted quickly in the last 2 weeks to secure the venue, all our suppliers and secured a good majority of our existing line up, including all the Pallet headliners. Equally we have some bands from our existing line up who can perform but we cannot announce them until they have released other cancellations (hence why the flyer has a few gaps) which have not happened yet. We do have all the stages as before but currently One Big Showcase will not be with us due to the current start of the University term.
Full line up details are on our line-up page including Maui Waui and Convoy Cabaret.

A little message from Toots: – Message to my friends all over the world.
My prayers are with you in this time of trouble, but I am confident in the victory of good over evil, that is why my promoters and my team have worked very very hard to reschedule Toots and the Maytals’ world tour. I will be coming to UK and Europe from August this year to sing and celebrate a new beginning with each and every one of you. So have faith, keep your tickets and stay healthy.
Signed Toots on the 19/03/2020 from my home in Jamaica

Transferring to September
We are hopeful that most of our ticket buyers can join us in September but appreciate customers might have existing plans.
Tickets will automatically be transferred to the new dates and you do not need to do anything further.

Refunds
Those who cannot attend and wish to claim a refund can do so by requesting a refund within the next 7 days. We had to set a deadline of 7 days (closing 27/03/2020) in order to successfully budget the festival.

Eventbrite – Ticket Purchases
If you purchased your ticket via Eventbrite please email your order number to tickets@springmusic.co.uk and the refund will be registered with Eventbrite in order for them to refund you. They have advised refunds will arrive within 28 days.

Gigantic – Ticket Purchases
If you booked via Gigantic and wish to claim a refund, please email them at customerservices@gigantic.com , quoting your order reference number and stating that you are unable to attend. Gigantic will then issue with a face value refund within 10 working days

We have heard concerns about what happens if things are still terrible come September. Well the festival will simply cancel, and refunds be issued at that point or tickets transferred to our usual dates in May 2021.

The main part of this statement should be this, we really wish you, your loved ones and friends good health. At first hand we are experiencing the difficulties this pandemic is causing to our society, our incomes and mental health. It is important we all stay positive; we keep focussed on the light at the end of the tunnel and we will do our bit by emailing you our usual nonsense to try and keep you in good spirits.
Take care

 

[William of Walworth]

Lazy Llama

Maybe you can alter the thread title here now, to relect these updated festival dates? Cheers

Thursday September 10th to Sunday September 13th 2020

 

[Part-timah]

So we now officially have what I'd been suspecting for ages : a rescheduled Bearded event -- now moved to actual dates in mid-September : Thursday September 10th to Sunday September 13th 2020

You won’t like this and you’ll accuse me of hating festivals but its not going to happen. We’re fucked for many months.

 

[mx wcfc]

I'm clinging onto the hope that this, and Something Else in the Wye at the end of September, will be on, but I'm not banking on it.

 

[pesh]

lol. no.

 

[William of Walworth]

I'm clinging onto the hope that this, and Something Else in the Wye at the end of September, will be on, but I'm not banking on it.

Yes, I'm not in much (or any ) hope that anything before those will happen, but I'm certainly not going to rule out September events. Yet!

 

[William of Walworth]

You won’t like this and you’ll accuse me of hating festivals but its not going to happen. We’re fucked for many months.

Up to and including the whole of September? Fully fucked? Absolutely definitely?
I'm not saying you're wrong, but I might be saying you could end up being premature with the bolded bit above. September's over five months away.

All the restrictions currently being imposed, probably including imminent full lock-down, would (IMO) have to be utterly ineffective for five months to still need to be as full-on strict by September.

I accept that I might be wrong on this, it's perfectly possible. And in that worst case scenario you might be right.
But unlike with my "may or may not happen" thoughts,, you don't seem to accept any possibility at all that your 100% certainty just might end up being overplayed here.

 

[killer b]

So cute

 

[William of Walworth]

So cute

Meaningless. I could easily just have said that "the event might or might not" still happen. I'm not really going much further than that, except perhaps for a little dash more optimism. But as I said, I could be wrong, easily. As could Part-timah

 

[killer b]

All the restrictions currently being imposed, probably including imminent full lock-down, would (IMO) have to be utterly ineffective for five months to still need to be as full-on strict by September

You still don't get it.

 

[William of Walworth]

You still don't get it.

Explain why not please? elbows was saying in the other thread (Pandemic personal consequences) that he was reluctant to guess on the length of time it will take (after strict restrictions and lock-down) before some rules may? get relaxed. There's all sorts of timescale possibilities surely, because so little is known for definite? And it's not like I'm saying all will be hunky-dory by June any more ....

 

[Mogden]

The thought of festivals is what gets me through the year full stop. I don't socialize as a rule, don't go out too much but I let loose a few times a year at festivals. The idea that I might still have an action packed September seeing festival mates and urbs and making new friends is stopping me getting completely moribund about this whole situation. Please don't use this thread to piss on my very expensive festival hipster chickpea and kale chips. William is letting me know other people are also clinging onto the positive ideas of having a summer of togetherness whether that's in very close proximity or slightly spaced out.

 

[xenon]

I would try to mentally prepare for the very strong likelihood mass gatherings such as this are not going to go ahead this year.

 

[xenon]

Sorry that might have sounded harsh. I replied before reading the above post. right now I’m just trying to hope everyone I know and love comes through this alive. Not to be overdramatic but for real.

 

[killer b]

Explain why not please? elbows was saying in the other thread (Pandemic personal consequences) that he was reluctant to guess on the length of time it will take (after strict restrictions and lock-down) before some rules may? get relaxed. There's all sorts of timescale possibilities surely, because so little is known for definite? And it's not like I'm saying all will be hunky-dory by June any more ....

The only thing that will make mass gatherings possible by september is if theres some kind of miracle cure found. We might not be in full lockdown by then, but theres going to have to be a very substantial social distancing regime until there is a cure, or a vaccine. Write off this summer. Be hopeful, but not too hopeful, about next summer.

 

[Athos]

The only thing that will make mass gatherings possible by september is if theres some kind of miracle cure found. We might not be in full lockdown by then, but theres going to have to be a very substantial social distancing regime until there is a cure, or a vaccine. Write off this summer. Be hopeful, but not too hopeful, about next summer.

Or if our suppression attempts have been so poor that it's largely burn itself out by then!

 

[William of Walworth]

killer b : OK that does make a good deal of sense to be fair. And yes, you could very well be right, just as Part-timah could be.

We've heard so many different things though. At one point (albeit a while back) it was being said that outdoor gatherings might be less dangerous than indoor ones. (And how mass is mass anyway, anything over 100?)
That outdoor gatherings thing from earlier has presumably been fully out-of-date for a while, but for now I'd still like to hope (?) that spread and numbers with this virus may be brought under control with sufficiently strict distancing rules over the coming weeks and months, to allow some events still to happen after the summer. It's not impossible yet I'd say.

ETA to correct 'now' in the last sentence to 'not'!